Rooks, who was on parole for a robbery conviction, was hit in the hip, neck and shoulder in front of 5 E. 115th St. He was in stable condition yesterday at Harlem Hospital. No cops were wounded.
He was struck three times out of the reported 77 shots, for a hit rate of 3.8%, which does leave considerable room for improvement, even in a duress situation.
The article doesn't explain where the other 74 rounds ended up, but they all went somewhere other than the suspect, that much is certain.
Suffice it to say that if I, as a citizen license to carry a concealed pistol, were to perform in such a fashion, I would likely face revocation of my permit, and probably criminal charges and a civil suit on top of that.
The caliber of the pistols the police were using don't explain the failure to put 96% of the rounds on target.
If anything, it would be reasonable to expect greater accuracy from 9mm than from heavier rounds with more recoil.
But that's just an armchair assessment. I wasn't there, and I recognize the importance of that rather pivotal fact.
It's good to recognize that it is easy to armchair quarterback the situation on the ground. When really bad things happen... lots of best laid plans seem to waft away like a vapor. Heaven knows I've been in situations that I wouldn't want to have FR second-guessers on my case about, but it was the best I could do at the moment.
But you're also right that there just isn't any reason for massively ineffective fire. The whole concept of the "one" carefully placed shot seems to not even be taught anymore. I don't know what's up with that.